The Mind's Elbow

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

It means
that summer is far behind us, and the slow march to winter solstice is
beginning to take its toll.

Here in the
Gray-t Northwest, November means gray and drizzle and gray and showers and gray
and rain and more gray and cloudbursts and early nightfalls of a darker shade
of ... well, gray.

Here’s the
rub — if you’re not careful, all of that gray can start to affect your grey matter. And by mid-month you’re likely to find yourself listlessly sucking down
Darjeeling and eating orange marmalade straight from the jar.

I’m
speaking from experience here.

But this
doesn’t have to be you! Your inner awesomeness and a November stretch goal will
save the day... er... month!

Just say NO
to listlessness by checking out this list of fabulous possibilities—

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Our good friends in the field of neuroscience have proven
that the brain’s most productive time is within the first two hours of waking
up.

Ah yes, smug pessimists, you’re right about this one — it’s
all downhill from here.

But optimists, take heart! Applied wisely, this could be
the best news you’ve heard all day.

First off, let’s explore why this is so.

Well, in not-so-super-scientific terms, your brain gets
tired.

And what makes it tired? Three things really —

Decision. Decisions. Decisions.

Okay, that looks like only one thing. But it turns out
that mental energy is drained away with every choice you make — especially those
that involve willpower. At a certain point your grey matter thinks nothing matters... “Like whatever, Dude. Whatever.”

The actual super-scientific term for this is called decision fatigue. And it explains why a
health-conscious person will refuse that tempting bowl of donutty
frosted fun first thing in the morning, yet gleefully scarf down two or three at
noon.

But is this fact of life only helpful for those trying to
avoid donuts?

Nope.

Arming yourself with this insight can actually help you
reach your creative goals. Here’s how:

1.Eliminate unnecessary life decisions... like that
pesky morning fashion dilemma. Trust me, if your closet contains only black
mock turtlenecks (Steve Jobs) or gray t-shirts (Mark Zuckerberg), you’ll free
up your mind for more important choices. And if you want to really go full throttle with decision
elimination, you can ditto successful CEOs Alexa Von Tobel and Leo Widrich by
eating the same meals each and every day as well.

2. If you spend
the first two hours of your day watching YouTube videos of cats wedging
themselves into teeny tiny boxes, you might want to rethink the way you start
your morning. Remember thatthose first
two hours are 120 minutes of golden creative opportunity.

3. Creative endeavors require willpower. That is, for
most of us they’re optional activities so a decision must be made daily — as
in, “Will I write something today, or not?” And we all know what happens when
you leave this decision until evening...Yep, you’re glazed and confused from eating ALL the
donuts, and you’ve got no words in the file.

So, make the decision ahead of time. In fact, build a
habit such as “Every day at (pick your favorite time) I write for X number of
minutes or Y number of words.” And voila! That was just one decision, and
you’ve already made it! So, if you stick to this plan, you won’t ever need to decide again — leaving your brain freed up for other important choices
like...

Do I want the chocolate frosting or vanilla?

PROMPT: Give
your brain a choice break and start building creative habits. For a kick-start
in habit formation, check out Gretchen Rubin’s book Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives.

By the way, I am guiltily aware that one of your
decisions today was spent on choosing to read this blog. For that, I am
grateful.

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Yes, I know. This baby New Year is already 28 days old
and cutting teeth. What’s more, I’ve read a recent article suggesting that most of you have given up on your writing resolutions by now.

Now that’s just sad.

So maybe it’s time to regroup and give yourself a
restart.

An awesome theme song might help...

You Gotta Be by
Des'ree, Kelly Clarkson’s Stronger (What
Doesn’t Kill You), or Always Look on
the Bright Side of Life by Monty Python are all excellent choices. However,
I do NOT recommend Waiting Around to Die
by Townes Van Zandt, or Beck’s Loser for
obvious reasons.

A Statement of Awesomeness comes in handy, too...

Something like Writing
for the Wide Screen in 2016, Novels, Art, and Caffeine for 2016, or I’m a Creating Machine in 2016 could be
just the ticket to set your wonderful wheels in motion.

Personally, I’m Plotting for Dopamine in 2016. Clearly I
find it hard to resist wordplay that combines my love of both writing and
psychology. And yes, I am well aware that I’m the only one chuckling right now. But I do digress...

Please note that if your 2015 Statement of Awesomeness
was... well, awesome, then there’s certainly no shame in It’s What I REALLY mean in 2016!

So let’s restart this New Year the right way right now!

Here are FIVE TIPS to make the awesome part guaranteed:

Say YES to RESOLUTIONS! Even though New Year's resolutions
get a bum rap, our friends in the Journal of Clinical Psychology note that those
who make them are actually 10 times more likely to successfully change
their behavior than those who do not.

ACTION is your friend. Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Get
action. Do things; be sane; don’t fritter away your time; create, act, take a
place wherever you are and be somebody; get action.” While his words should not
be confused with the post-Teddy phrase “get some
action”... his sentiments remain spot on. ACTION, whether you're taking it or
getting it, is always a good thing.

FINISH! Vow to finish something this year... and this
something can be ANYTHING... even an anything as humble as a haiku. Just finish
it. And while you’re finishing, remember this as well – DONE IS BETTER THAN
PERFECT. If the last line of that haiku has one extra syllable that you just can't seem to shed — I do not care, mon frère. Call it done, grin, and
move on.

Then there’s the first cousin of DONE IS BETTER THAN
PERFECT, affectionately known as LATE IS BETTER THAN NEVER... just like this
post... ahem. See, it’s true.

Finally, if you can remember only one of all the tips
I’ve mentioned, please let it be this one — STAY IN THE GAME. It doesn’t matter
what we’re talking about here – resolutions, goals, dreams, desires, or life in general and
specifically – STAY IN THE GAME. It’s always worth the ride.

Bonus Tip: Through it all, BE NICE TO YOURSELF. And if you
happen to get to a point where you’re spouting a bunch of F words like failure,
frustration, or face-plant, remember that a new year can begin on any given day
at any given moment —

even this one right now.

PROMPT: Art is
not just what we do. Art is who we are.

Yes, my friend, your LIFE is a work of art —

so, make it a good one.

And here’s a little extra motivation that cracks me up and never gets old.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

It’s been exactly
nine months since my last post, and I thought it was high time for an update.

Because
nine months is a fabulous wedge of time, isn't it? After all, it’s the exact portion of a year that can morph a good idea into something squalling on its own.

So, it may
come as no surprise to you that I've used the time to create a brand spanking
new revision of a novel I've been toying with for years. And unlike human
offspring who tend to hang around for a couple of decades, that baby was itching
to leave the nest before the ink was dry. And so, I sent it out the first
chance I got, right?

Nope.

First, I
had it read by a couple of people with blood-red pens and hearts the size of
raisins. Trust me, you need these folks. At this stage of the game they are far
more helpful to you and your manuscript than the ones with hearts the size of
Texas who dot their i’s with daisies.

After this
set of suggestions was considered, and I had gone through the draft yet another
time, I was then on the hunt for good listeners.

You can
usually spot good listeners by their large ears and thoughtful expressions.
However, this method is not fool-proof. For example, cats and jackasses are NOT
good listeners. Behind that cat’s thoughtful expression is just a headful of
notions about canned food and plots that may or may not involve your murder
should it ever figure out how to work the can's pull-tab on its own. And jackasses…

Well, they’re
jackasses.

Anyway,
after finding a great batch of listeners who were willing to meet for a
boatload of sessions, I read that whole dang novel OUT LOUD. I can’t really overemphasize the importance of this step. You will not believe how many
little errors you’ll catch if you use it. It seems that the brain reading
silently loves to patch things up as it hums along, but give it a voice and
wow! You’ll find yourself wondering how you could have possibly missed that obvious
mistake in your first 147 read-throughs.

Finally,
when that was all said (OUT LOUD) and done, the novel was ready to send off
into the great big world where it will eventually receive its YES or NO.

Pop quiz
time!

What do you
do when you've completed and submitted your manuscript?

A. Check email, snail mail, and voice
mail 317 times a day and look like this—

B. Get on with your next novel and look
like this—

Well, I don’t
know about you, but I chose option B.

And so, I’m already knee-deep into
chapter two of novel two — that’s the good news.

The bad
news is that blog posts will continue to be on a pretty random cycle from here
on out.

And now for
an update on the home front:

Midway
through the novel revision, my dear, sweet, elderly office mate abandoned the project
(and life as we know it). Those were tough days indeed, and alas, he is still
missed.

R.I.P

However, on
a lighter note, I have since been blessed with two new colleagues. And while
they do have actual names, and perhaps titles, I've dubbed them Thing 1 and
Thing 2. I’m guessing you can see why…

Obviously,
they are a work in progress.

Aren't we
all?

PROMPT: I’m placing bets that you have a
mossy old manuscript stashed somewhere. Well, today is the day to dig it out and dust
it off!

Oh, and don’t
forget that it’s International Moment of Laughter Day (go ahead and Google if you
must). This is sure to give you a jump-start on the celebration.

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About Me

I am a former psychologist who went out on a limb to pursue my passion for writing... It has been a very long limb. Over the years I've created poems, stories, a couple of kids, and hundreds of fiction and nonfiction pieces for the children’s education market. Life is good! My goal for this blog is to provide fun prompts for writers and artists as well as share what I know (and don’t know) about the creative process.